Paul Painter, Chief Technology Officer
Paul Painter is an Emeritus Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at The Pennsylvania State University. Born in Birmingham, England he obtained BSc and MSc degrees from University College, London, in chemical engineering and biochemical engineering, respectively. He came to the U.S. in 1972 to study Macromolecular Science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and, after receiving his PhD he joined the faculty at Penn State in 1976. In 1983 he took a leave of absence to serve as the Director of Polymers Program at the National Science Foundation receiving an NSF Outstanding Performance Award for his administrative work in 1984. Following his return to Penn State, his research focused on two areas; the phase behavior of polymer solutions and blends and the structure of fossil fuels. This unusual combination of academic interests resulted in the discovery of a formulation of the phase separation technology commercialized by Extrakt Process Solutions. The original patent for this technology was filed in 2010 and has been allowed in the US and Canada. Paul has published more than 260 papers on various subjects and four textbooks. He was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1999. He joined Extrakt Process Technology as Chief Technical Officer in 2015.
Bruce Miller, Director of Research & Development
Bruce G. Miller is a Senior Scientist and Associate Director of the EMS Energy Institute with Penn State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Science. He also serves as Extrakt Process Solutions Chief of R & D. Mr. Miller has B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering with minors in Mathematics and Petroleum Engineering. He has more than 30 years’ experience in fuels research and development with an emphasis on fossil fuel and biomass characterization and utilization, fuels preparation and handling, hardware development and testing, and emissions characterization and control. Bruce has managed a large number of research projects, including pilot and demonstration scale facilities for coal preparation/cleaning, coal water slurry (CWS) preparation, combustion systems, and pollution control technologies. He has participated full-scale coal cleaning/fine coal recovery and utilization projects with multiple utility companies.
Aron Lupinsky, Director of Research
Aron holds a B.S. in material Science and Engineering, Polymer from The Pennsylvania State University and is a Research Associate at the EMS Energy Institute and Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State. He has worked as a leader in the development of highly efficient and environmentally sound method for separation of hydrocarbons from particulate matter during the course of his undergraduate degree. Following graduation Aron remained at Penn State to continue work on this innovate separation technology. Prior to Penn State Aron served 17 years in the military and government service.
Dave Sego, PhD, PEng, FCAE, FEIC, FASCE
Dr. David C. Sego is a world-renowned expert in permafrost and cold regions engineering as well as oil sands tailings research and management. As a distinguished member of the Geotechnical Centre at the University of Alberta, his extensive high-quality research has bolstered Canada’s international reputation for innovation in technology and research related to natural resources development and the arctic. In the former context, he has provided enormous leadership as Principal Investigator at the Oil Sands Tailing Research Facility at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Sego played an integral role in the establishment of three state-of-the-art research facilities in Alberta, namely, the $2.2-million Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility (OSTRF), the Cold Regions Research Facility and the Geochemistry Laboratory at the University of Alberta. In these facilities, his team of researchers and students carries out world-class research to solve challenging issues related to oil sands tailings. Dr. Sego is well known for conducting innovative and practical research. Several of his groundbreaking technological developments have transferred into standard industry use. For example, under his leadership, a cross-disciplinary collaborative team developed a novel hand-held Naphthenic Acids Fluorescence Sensor in 2009. This technology offers a cost effective, bench scale, non-invasive and continuous water quality monitoring tool that can detect, characterize and track changes of naphthenic acids in process-affected waters.
For the past ten years, Dr. Sego has organized various oil sands tailings-related conferences, including the internationally acclaimed International Oil Sands Tailings Conferences in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and the upcoming conference in December 2016. This activity in recent years has contributed to the ability for Canada to demonstrate its leadership in oil sands tailings research and management.
James R. Prall, Special Projects Manager
Jim is an engineering and project professional with more than forty years of experience in the development of industrial process applications. He has an extensive background in extraction, distillation and refining process design, construction, and operation. Projects include biofuels production, pharmaceutical grade oil extraction and packaging, oil sands extraction, process plant construction and commissioning, as well as international refinery design, construction, and commissioning. Mr. Prall holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Economics and an MBA in Operations Management as well as an MS in Finance and Accounting from Regis Jesuit University. Command Sergeant Major (R) served 34 years in the U.S. Army.
For information on the senior management and board of directors of Extrakt Process Solutions, please email info@extraktps.com.